Harmones are much more important than caloric balance... weight loss & health

Of course this is the truth. Look at people with endocrine issues with their thyroid. They can diet and do hours of cardio and still have a weight issue. Hormones have a lot to do with weight loss and gain.

Agreed. One cannot tap into fat reserves for fuel, if serum insulin is elevated. Jason Fung is da man.

Doesn’t work for me. I work out in the morning then go to a manual labor job. I can’t go that long without fuel. I have a protein shake after my lift and eat real food at 12.

I think most plans like this are developed by people looking to profit by extrapolating one scientific idea into an entire dietary plan.

There are some general underlying principles that work for most of these diets, but think of how many diets are based in a single idea given supremacy over all others. Fasting, keto, etc. are all based in a single factor control expanded to fit a whole lifestyle.

That's my main issue too. Unless you really like that one idea, it is virtually impossible to stick to that single factor restriction long term. If you can stick to it religiously, good for you. I don't think most leople can live the rest of their lives like that.

That is why I like flexible, multi factor diets. Even if you don't fast for long enough, or eat a few extra carbs, the other factors can be manipulated to keep the balance in order.

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If is great for health and a convenient way to control calories and it does have a slight nutrition partitioning effect but nothing major. Calories and protein are still what matter for 90+% of what we are trying to do here.

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777 is 100% right on this. The downvotes are people who dont believe science and switch from one fad to the other.

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And to the person that said you can't engage fat stores if insulin is raised

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Low-Carbohydrate Diets Promote a More Favorable Body Composition Than Low-Fat Diets

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In fact, adipose tissue lipolysis is exquisitely sensitive to changes in insulin within the physiological range of concentrations (Figure 1). Small to moderate decreases in insulin can increase lipolysis several-fold, the response being virtually immediate. Insulin also stimulates lipogenesis by increasing glucose uptake and activating lipogenic and glycolytic enzymes.

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and

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Prior work clearly shows that providing even small amounts of carbohydrate after exercise rapidly decreases nonesterified fatty acids and induces a shift from fat to carbohydrate oxidation. The relatively minor positive effect of carbohydrate and insulin on protein balance should be weighed against the more potent effects of carbohydrate ingestion on inhibition of fat breakdown and fat oxidation, which could be counterproductive for decreasing body fat.

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In other words, scientific studies show that serum insulin triggers a shift on energy conversion from burning fat (lipolysis) to burning carbs, and also triggers the storage of excess energy from the conversion of glucose to glycogen into fat.

While I admit, my response was not as brief and witty as , I think it explained my point more precisely. Don't you think?

when calories are kept equal and protein is the same, it doesnt matter where the other macros fall. Many studies show this.


Go read Layne Norton, Lyle McDonald, and others on the subject.

The Advocate just ran an article about a Pennington IF study a few days ago.

Link

The body of evidence in favor of IF is starting to pile up. I don't even really consider IF to be fasting any more. IF should be the norm IMO. Fasting would be abstaining for periods of 24 hours or more.

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Dozens of studies show that when calories are equal and protein is high enough to maximize muscle protein 
synthesis and minimize muscle loss that where the rest of the energy balance comes from doesn't matter

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So you are saying that protein is the driver. And if protein is high enough to maximize protein synthesis the rest of what I eat for energy doesn't matter? So 1000 calories of processed food, 1000 calories of fat, and 1000 calories of fat would all be equal in my performance from an energy point? What about general health, fat loss, etc.?

Whatever dude. You're stuck on CICO so there's no changing your mind, but the science is clear. Insulin drives the fat storage, fat burn cycle, not calories. If calorie deficit diets worked everyone who went to Weight Watchers or was a contestant on Biggest Loser would stay skinny, but it never happens that way.